Post-war period

During the post-war period, Peanuts played in the bands of Benny Goodman, Ray McKinley, Eddie Condon and Jack Teagarden. From 1950 to 1955, he was busy in New York as a studio musician for CBS and ABC. This was followed by more work with Goodman and Teagarden, after which he joined the Louis Armstrong All-Stars from 1958 to 1960. When he visited Tokyo, Japan, as the lead alto saxophone player of Benny Goodman’s Orchestra in January, 1951, he listened to Japanese famous jazz clarinet player Shoji Suzukiand his Rhythm Aces playing. Teaming with Suzuki and his band, they recorded some tunes after a few days, one of them was “Suzukake No Michi”, which broke the record of jazz record sales in Japan. He also led his own group at Eddie Condon‘s Club from 1964 to 1966.

The 1980s brought renewed success with a busy concert and touring schedule as a soloist and with his award-winning Pied Piper quintet. He and Tobin later settled into semi-retirement in Denton, Texas. His last recording was 1992’s Swing That Music (Star Line)featuring Tobin, trumpeter Randy Sandke, and pianist Johnny Varro.